By Punch Editorial Board
NIGERIA’S rich music culture and the creative talents of its youths were reaffirmed on the global stage on March 14, 2021, during the 63rd Grammy Awards held at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, United States. Two Nigerian Afrobeats superstars, Damini Ogulu – a grandson of veteran music critic, Benson Idonije – and Ayo Balogun, aka Wizkid, made Nigeria and Africa proud with their historic wins at the event soaked in ceremonial grandeur. Professionally called Burna Boy, Ogulu’s 2020 fifth studio album, ‘Twice As Tall’, beat those of four other nominees to clinch the ‘Best Global Music Album’ category. Wizkid won based on his collaboration with the US singer, Beyonce, on the ‘Brown Skin Girl’ video directed by Jenn Nkiru, off the 2019 album, ‘The Lion King: The Gift.’ The video grabbed the ‘Best Music Video’ category.
These wins have again spectacularly demonstrated the capacity of Nigeria’s young people to hold their own in virtually any human endeavour. The Grammys, presented annually in the US by the Recording Academy, recognise outstanding works in the music industry. Though some music-makers of Nigerian descent had won the awards and others got nominations in the past, the latest awards by the inspiring singers at this period reflect the candid spirit of an average Nigerian youth beyond the negative labels of fraudsters and ‘lazy youths’ the uncaring and corrupt government officials put on him. The feat energetically asserts the grit, resilience and tenacity of Nigerian youths in going beyond the bounds in a milieu where the government offers little or no assistance to the creative industries.
The creative industries are plagued by challenges such as piracy, lack of finance and copyright issues. The practitioners nonetheless forge ahead to break the glass ceiling. The dogged youths’ efforts amid stifling government policies have partly paid off at the Grammy Awards.
From music, fashion, film to the arts, the creative industries have been largely unstructured and whatever gains achieved today were through the earnest exertions of their players and promoters. Successive governments set up several committees and generated policies with pledges to breathe life into the industries to become world-class and compete internationally. But the committees and policies ended as mere rhetoric and failed promises.
Nigeria’s Nollywood is presumed the second largest producer of films after Hollywood. Indeed, in terms of the sheer number of films produced, Nollywood’s output of 2,500 films annually makes it second only to India’s Bollywood though America’s Hollywood makes the most money, according to Studio Binder, a California-based industry resource firm.
The Director-General, Nigerian Copyright Commission, John Asein, painted the grim reality when he said Nigeria loses $3 billion to piracy yearly. He lamented that piracy had dealt many great men in the creative industries fatal blows. Asein said, “The effect of piracy is immeasurable. It goes beyond monetary loss. If you see the number of well-known practitioners in Nollywood lamenting and probably seeking medical help, it tells the magnitude of problems at hand. There is a human angle to it other than money.”
The Federal Government, in its congratulatory message to the winners, observed that the achievement brought glory to Nigerians at home and abroad. It should go further, urgently seize the day by transparently and adequately funding the infrastructure needs of the sector and exploring other non-oil sectors through private sector-led initiatives to significantly engage the over 23 million jobless Nigerians as unemployment rate hit 33.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2020, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. With the country’s shabby global image, pitiable corruption ranking and inept leadership, the awards can chart a new image for Nigeria by projecting the songbirds as the ‘Face of Nigeria,’ to preach a message of hope and new dawn on a large-scale, both nationally and internationally.
States no longer have the luxury to stay idle, but should wholly tap into the abundant potential tucked in the creative industries by wooing investors to establish music studios, film and television villages, including exhibition domes, among others. Some states are already sensibly set for this laudable step with Lagos ostensibly taking the lead in tapping the goldmine innate in the industry. It is, however, necessary to fully integrate core stakeholders into the projects to parade a pool of assorted talents ranging from artists, actors, singers and producers to directors. The creative sector is lucrative and a significant employer of labour. The Federal Government, being aware of its money-spinning potential, noted that through its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, the sector would contribute at least $1 billion to the country’s economy by 2020. It stressed that this projection was hinged on its policy seeking to discourage overdependence on oil earnings, following its contribution of approximately N239 billion, representing 2.3 per cent, to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2016.